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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26663218">deep water</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/tealady19/pseuds/tealady19'>tealady19</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Voltron: Legendary Defender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, Fem Keith (Voltron), Fem Shiro (Voltron), Femslash, Genderswap, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Nudity, Pining Shiro (Voltron), Post-Episode: s02e08 The Blade of Marmora, Pre-Slash, Skinny Dipping</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 11:42:41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,874</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26663218</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/tealady19/pseuds/tealady19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>The lights come on dimly as they enter, Shiro guesses that’s due to where they are in the night cycle.  They illuminate the T-shaped pool in a warm yellow glow, blue accent lights shining up from underwater.  Keith gasps.  It’s beautiful. </p>
  <p>This is even better than Shiro had anticipated.  The low light and calm water is perfect for relaxing, and there’s no one in sight or in earshot.  They’re perfectly alone and will be for hours. </p>
</blockquote><p>Not long after her trials, Shiro takes Keith skinny dipping in the castleship's pool.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Keith/Shiro (Voltron)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Femsheith Exchange 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>deep water</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/pumpkinless/gifts">pumpkinless</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>A gift for <a href="https://twitter.com/disloyalpunk">Liz</a>!  Your prompts were so tempting but I have such a weakness for post-BOM trials I couldn't resist this one.  I hope you enjoy!</p>
<p>Thanks to the <a href="https://twitter.com/femsheith">femsheith exchange</a> mods for putting together this event and extra super thank you to <a href="https://twitter.com/leftishark_">Sharki</a> for listening to me cry and then helping me make this so much better &lt;3 You're a lifesaver!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It’s been less than a week since they left the Blade of Marmora’s base, and Keith is still hiding. Well, not quite <em>hiding,</em> Shiro amends as she sets her sights on her best friend’s door. She went with Hunk on their mission to the weblum. She’s been part of every briefing, sat in the common room with the other Paladins in the evenings, participated in team training against the bots or in the maze or whatever the task of the day was. She even answers questions or offers insights when asked. On the outside, it looks like Keith’s coping pretty well.</p>
<p>Keith is not coping well, Shiro huffs as she approaches her door. Keith is hiding behind her aloof, competent mask. Shiro knows this because Shiro’s been doing the same thing.</p>
<p>It’s not quite as bad as when they were at the Garrison, when Shiro was still getting to know the slight slip of a girl who balked at authority and took no prisoners on the mats. She’d noticed Keith’s abilities from that first day in the simulator, but it was being on the receiving end of her vicious right hook for the first time that really grabbed Shiro’s attention. She hid from the other cadets but let Shiro into her heart, good and sweet as it is.</p>
<p>She’d been almost inconsolable that first night after the trials, clinging to Shiro’s shirt even as she insisted that Shiro should hate her, not wanting to cause Shiro pain but terrified to let her go. It was all Shiro could do to hold on to her while she shook, press her into the curve of Shiro’s neck and keep her there until she could fall asleep. She hasn’t been that much better since, but Keith insists on sleeping on her own now. Secretly, Shiro misses the warmth of her slim body next to Shiro’s own. She keeps the memory of that one night close to her heart.</p>
<p>Shiro rounds the bend that separates her and Keith’s rooms from the other paladins’. The three younger ones stay close together, their cluster of rooms at the end of the hall closest to the lounge. Shiro and Keith prefer a little more quiet and chose rooms side by side a little further away. Their doors are mirror images of each other, and Shiro steps up to the one on the right.</p>
<p>Three quick raps of Shiro’s metal knuckles echo down the corridor, but it helps Keith to know who, exactly, is at her door. She’d never expected the metal arm to make someone feel safer, but hey, she figures there’s a first time for everything.</p>
<p>Keith doesn’t answer right away though, so Shiro raps again, calling her name. It’s silent on the other side.</p>
<p>Shiro bites her lip before pressing her hand to the lock, knowing it’s coded only to her and Keith. She still knocks out of respect for Keith’s privacy but, stepping just inside the room Shiro can see it’s not necessary. The room is dark and empty, standard regulation. It’s like Keith doesn’t even live here, but, Shiro’s room is the same. Neither are one for sentimental items, as few there are to pick up in space.</p>
<p>A quick glance inside reveals the attached bathroom is also empty. Shiro crosses her arms over her chest as she considers - Keith wasn’t in the training rooms since Shiro had checked there first, and she wasn’t in the observation lounge since that’s where Shiro had been when she started looking for Keith. The Red Lion was the next likely place.</p>
<p>With no other ideas, Shiro turns on her heel, leaving the room as empty as she’d found it.</p>
<p>The castle’s elevators are on the other end of the corridor from the paladin’s rooms, far enough away to not be a disturbance but close enough to get to quickly should there be an emergency. It only takes Shiro a minute or two to reach them, and not much longer than that for one to arrive once she’s called it. These elevators visit the upper half of the ship and if someone wanted to visit anything on the lower decks, they would have to transfer on the mid-level. However, all elevators will take them to the bridge and to the lion’s hangars - Allura had Coran reconfigure them after the issues they had with Sendak’s corrupted crystal.</p>
<p>The elevator arrives and Shiro steps in gratefully, leaning against the back wall once she’s told it where to take her. It glides through the ship softly, the only noise a low, resonant hum. It had taken her a few trips before Shiro had realised what the hum reminds her of: the sound of her grandfather’s voice as he’d tend to his chrysanthemums in the gardens around her childhood home.</p>
<p>Shiro used to spend ages listening to that voice, soft and melodious as he worked outside her bedroom window. She’d linger in her bedroom and let precious moments of her morning routine slip by as she’d listen, and almost be late for school as a result. She’s not sure her mother ever realised that she would only linger on sunny days.</p>
<p>When she wasn’t at school she would sneak onto the balcony over the backyard in the early morning, laying on a blanket to listen to him work in the garden below. She’d often doze in the sun like an overgrown cat, rousing before anyone noticed that she was there but feeling buoyant with pleasure for the rest of the day.</p>
<p>Sometimes now Shiro will ride in the elevators on nights she can’t bring herself to sleep. She’s not sure what kind of Altean magic is at work, or if it’s just a pure coincidence, but she will sit on the elevator floor and let it take her around the ship for hours, just to listen to that hum. Aside from spending time with Keith or the Black Lion, it’s the only place Shiro can find peace.</p>
<p>The elevator lets her out as close to the Red Lion’s hangar as she can get - just down the corridor and around the corner. The distance is covered easily with Shiro’s long strides and as she turns the corner she hears the unmistakable sound of the hangar doors sliding open. A thread of hope blooms in her chest and in the next moment she catches Keith just exiting Red’s hangar. Perfect.</p>
<p>Keith looks up when she hears Shiro’s footsteps approaching, a vulnerable sort of look on her face that she quickly smooths out into a neutral, if curious, expression.</p>
<p>“Shiro?”</p>
<p>They stop in the corridor, but Keith doesn’t hesitate to step just inside Shiro’s space. She’s a warm presence at her side, looking up at her curiously.</p>
<p>“I was looking for you,” Shiro starts with a soft smile. Keith’s eyebrows go up in surprise and it hurts Shiro’s heart that she still sees herself as not worth taking up Shiro’s time. Like it’s a shock that Shiro would want to spend time with her. The thought helps her reach out and curl her arm around Keith’s shoulders, tucking her into the curves of her side.</p>
<p>“Really?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, Keith, of course. It’s been a while since we could just hang out. I missed you.”</p>
<p>Keith’s smile is small in response, but she reaches out and cautiously slides her arm around Shiro’s waist, relaxing a little more when Shiro just tightens her grip on her. Shiro takes that moment to direct them back to the elevator, still waiting for them where Shiro had left it.</p>
<p>The hum is soothing when they get back in, the elevator continuing on without Shiro having to tell it where to go. She’s often wondered how the magic on the old Altean ship actually works, but right now she’s grateful she doesn’t have to break the calm between her and Keith. Also, she’s got an idea working in her mind for a way for both of them to relax, but she thinks Keith will be more likely to agree if it’s a surprise. They’re both impulsive that way.</p>
<p>“I like the elevators,” Keith admits quietly, staring up at the ceiling. They’ve separated to each lean back against the wall. Shiro has to consciously look away from the long, pale line of Keith’s neck as she tilts her head back. It’s going to get her in trouble if she stares.</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Shiro agrees, following Keith’s gaze to the ceiling. There are shadows playing along the surface as they pass by the floors and support beams, highlighting the dips and valleys in the surface. It’s pretty.</p>
<p>“I like watching the patterns,” Keith continues. “It’s like watching the clouds in the sky when I was a kid.”</p>
<p>Shiro doesn’t quite see that, but it prompts her to admit her own feelings. “The noise the elevator makes sounds like my grandfather humming in the garden.” She looks down with a soft smile when Keith looks over, surprised.</p>
<p>“The hum? It sounds like the wind to me.”</p>
<p>“I’ve been wondering if the Castle somehow finds things we appreciate or miss, and lets us experience that,” Shiro muses. “I always feel so comfortable in the elevators, it’s really weird.”</p>
<p>Keith’s shoulders are dropping with each quiet word, and the wistfulness in Shiro’s tone. That’s good, Shiro thinks as they turn a corner – a weird enough thing to do in an elevator – because she’ll need Keith a little looser if she wants to get her to agree to this plan. Despite the fact that it’s a plan to get her to relax.</p>
<p>They turn another corner and start to move downwards, and at this point Keith is obviously starting to question where they’re going. She keeps sneaking glances in Shiro’s direction, not sure how to broach the topic but clearly curious. They don’t take this path often. There are a number of unexplored parts of the castle and it looks like Keith can’t guess. Shiro just smiles at her, a cheeky tease to <em>be patient</em> on her lips if Keith ever tries to ask.</p>
<p>She doesn’t though, so Shiro just gives her an amused look as the elevator slows to a stop. It plays a three note trill as the doors open, and the lights dim to a cool blue as they exit.</p>
<p>It’s never done either of those things before and Shiro and Keith share a look as they step out, breaking into quiet laughter after the doors close behind them.</p>
<p>“So where are we?” Keith finally asks, looking around. The corridor looks pretty much identical to all the other corridors on the castle. Shiro rests a hand between her shoulder blades and uses it to direct her friend along the hallway.</p>
<p>“Somewhere fun.”</p>
<p>The doors on the left open slowly and Shiro guides them into the room. The lights come on dimly as they enter, Shiro guesses that’s due to where they are in the night cycle. They illuminate the T-shaped pool in a warm yellow glow, blue accent lights shining up from underwater. Keith gasps. It’s beautiful.</p>
<p>This is even better than Shiro had anticipated. The low light and calm water is perfect for relaxing, and there’s no one in sight or in earshot. They’re perfectly alone and will be for hours.</p>
<p>Shiro checks the lock on the door to make sure it’s sealed just to be sure, and then starts to unzip her vest. At some point she started thinking of the clothes as hers, rather than Keith’s dad’s old things. Even though they were cut originally for a man they fit her snugly and she appreciates the many useful pockets. The vest and the compression shirt underneath also hug Shiro’s curves and show off the muscles in her shoulders and arms - something she knows she’s caught Keith staring at a few times recently.</p>
<p>The slide of the zip catches Keith’s attention again but this time it’s the removal of that old vest that’s making her stare. Her eyes are wide as Shiro folds it carefully and sets it aside. Her hands are on her belt buckle when Keith finds her voice.</p>
<p>“Sh-shiro?!”</p>
<p>She looks over where Keith’s eyes have somehow gotten wider. There’s a faint blush across her cheeks, an appealing flush that looks purplish in the low light. It might actually be purplish - maybe Shiro should make her do it in the daytime some time, but those are thoughts for later. Especially if she's going to continue with her current plan.</p>
<p>“I thought we could go for a swim,” she says, trying for nonchalant. The thought of skinny dipping in the castle’s pool in the middle of the night was a spontaneous one, but too delicious an idea to pass up. It’s also a little reckless, any one of the paladins or - heavens help them - <em>Coran</em> could find them but that’s the risk that makes it fun.</p>
<p>Keith’s trying not to smile at the look on Shiro’s face, which she’s pretty sure is a mixture of confident, eager, and maybe a little nervous. The lights are low and they’ll be under the water soon enough but there’s still enough light to see each other by, and that’s far more than last time.</p>
<p>Last time, they’d just finished a day’s run in the desert on their hoverbikes, a few months before the Kerberos launch. They weren’t due back to the Garrison until early morning, having signed out the hoverbikes for most of the afternoon and well into the night. That night happened to be the peak of the Perseids and the Garrison let everyone off of morning classes to view them. Shiro just decided they could have a more up close view.</p>
<p>Keith found the oasis, a small pond surrounded by short trees and at the end of a trail of prickly pear cacti. Shiro considered picking a few to eat but Keith shot that idea down when she told her they didn’t have any of the proper gear to safely handle them. Neither of them wanted to have to head back early because they got miniscule cactus spines in their hands or mouths.</p>
<p>They were already dusty from the day and both were wanting to get cleaned up before shaking out their blankets to watch the meteors. Shiro can’t remember which one of them had the idea to actually get in the pond rather than just rinse off their hands and faces, but Keith was delighted with the idea and stripped out of her hoodie quickly. Shiro’s eyebrows shot up at her haste.</p>
<p>“It’s fine, Shiro! Come on,” Keith laughed before taking off on a perimeter check. She shone a dim light from her datapad into the reeds and checked around some rocks on the other side before pronouncing the pond free of snapping turtles - a good thing too, they needed their fingers or toes bitten off about as much as they needed cactus spines in their hands. That is to say, not at all.</p>
<p>Keith was obviously trying not to laugh at her as she tugged off her boots, pants and shirt following suit to join the hoodie in a haphazard heap. That left her in underwear and a black bralette that she was already unhooking. Shiro hadn’t quite caught up, hands still hovering on the edges of her riding gloves, and Keith noticed when she’d turned back around.</p>
<p>“C’mon oldtimer,” she teased over her shoulder. “Don’t tell me you’ve never done this before?”</p>
<p>The taunt was audible in her voice and one day Shiro would learn not to follow every stupid impulse they dared each other to do, but it wasn’t going to be that day. Keith shucked the rest of her clothes as Shiro bent down to unlace her boots and she slipped into the water in the dim light. The moon was a sliver that night - a bonus for meteor watching as well as giving them the confidence to be naked in front of each other.</p>
<p>Keith was already in the water up to her shoulders by the time Shiro was picking her way through the mud, trying to follow in Keith’s steps exactly. A few curious fish flitted around her ankles before she joined up with her friend, who was staring up at the sky. The meteors hadn’t quite started falling yet, but they’d be out soon. The stars illuminated Keith’s face and Shiro smiled, noticing just how relaxed her friend actually was. This calm demeanor suited her.</p>
<p>The water buoyed around her and she sunk down another few inches. Keith turned to her with a smile.</p>
<p>“See how much nicer this is?”</p>
<p>Shiro scoffed, but playfully and around a laugh. “Okay, you’re right. It’s pretty nice in here. Like a spa.”</p>
<p>Keith snorted. “I’ve never been to a spa.”</p>
<p>“I mean, it’s pretty much a mud bath and a soak right here, all that’s missing is the massage.” Shiro sent on her best over the top puppy eyes in Keith’s direction but all it garnered her was Keith’s bark of laughter and a splash in her direction, but it was worth it.</p>
<p>Shiro swam a little closer to her friend, still slowly treading water to keep her feet from touching the mud. They’d spent a good part of the meteor shower floating calmly in the water.</p>
<p>Keith had learned to swim in a pond just like it near her childhood home, she’d confided in her as they lay shoulder to shoulder on the blanket Shiro had packed. They’d hurriedly dried off with the thin towels that were part of the hoverbikes’ emergency kits, and then dressed, letting the warm summer night air blow through their wet hair. They both kept their gazes pinned to the sky - easy enough to do with the meteors still streaking down.</p>
<p>Keith hadn’t ever swam in a pool without wildlife until she’d had a gym class at the community pool, she told Shiro softly into the night. She’s still not a strong swimmer, and thankfully at the time she hadn’t been the only one in her class who struggled. Their teacher had mercifully chosen safety over forcing them to participate in whatever game the more experienced students were playing. As long as they were in the water, even floating by the edge, that counted.</p>
<p>Shiro hopes they do a little more than float by the edge in the castle’s pool now, but floating does have it’s appeal. She pulls her compression shirt over her head, leaving her standing in her shorts and sports bra, back still turned to Keith.</p>
<p>A glance over her shoulder shows her Keith has turned away as well, but what skin she can see of her neck and shoulders is tinted with a dark flush. She tosses her jacket and shirt in a pile on the floor again, and is toeing off her boots and sliding out of her tight jeans. It looks like she has the same bralette as when she was at the Garrison - it makes Shiro’s heart clench to think she’s only been afforded the one over the years they’ve known each other, but it’s also possible she had just been wearing that one the day they left. It did look like it was well taken care of.</p>
<p><em>Not</em> that Shiro goes around studying her friend’s underclothes, she realises, whipping her eyes away. She’s not going to make this awkward.</p>
<p>Keith’s back, Shiro notices then, is a mosaic of bruises and shallow, healing cuts. They stretch heavily along her right side where she’d seen her land forcefully several times during her trials. The flesh looks tender, still a mottled blue-green as it heals. It seems like Keith has been using the cream Coran had given her - the swelling is almost gone, and the colours are not nearly as deep as that first night. Still, Shiro thinks she can be more generous with her application of it, and makes a mental note to remind her to do so later that night. Shiro will do it for her if she has to, though the thought of sliding her hands gently over Keith’s bare skin is another direction she doesn’t want her mind travelling.</p>
<p>The wound on Keith’s shoulder still looks raw, the shiny pink of new skin clearly visible. Shiro knows Keith’s still wearing the clear bandage over top of it, wouldn’t even consider putting her in whatever chemicals the pool has to keep it clean without it. It’s conveniently waterproof, though Keith does change it every day. Still, the state of her back and sides has Shiro’s brow wrinkling in mild distress.</p>
<p>She’s tried so hard to keep everyone safe, and yet she’s presented with evidence of how she’s failed at every turn.</p>
<p>She must make some kind of sad noise because before she can track it, Keith has turned and grabbed her forearm, looking steadily up into her eyes. When she speaks, her voice is soft but sure.</p>
<p>“It’s fine, Shiro. Don’t worry about it.”</p>
<p>Shiro knows enough not to get stuck in that train of thought and breathes out a steady breath. She reaches up instead and tucks a stray lock of hair behind Keith’s ear, watching her expression as it changes from conviction to confusion, to fondness.</p>
<p>“I’m just glad you’re okay.”</p>
<p>Keith’s smile is soft as she looks at Shiro. “I’m okay. Better when you’re here.” As if that doesn’t send Shiro’s heart stuttering in her chest.</p>
<p>They must both realise their state of undress at the same time because they both start to flush, visible even in the low light, and turn away from each other quickly. Shiro takes the opportunity to slide out of the rest of her clothes, quickly crossing the distance to sit down by the edge of the pool.</p>
<p>It doesn’t look like there’s a set of stairs or a ramp or anything to get into this end of the pool, but at least Allura has fixed the gravity generators in the room so it’s no longer on the ceiling.</p>
<p>It’s warm when she gets her feet in, the water lapping at her ankles. It’s soothing, the water having a weighty quality that almost felt like a gentle massage. When she pushes off the edge and slips soundlessly into the pool, it hugs her body but doesn’t burden her. It feels more like a glove, fitting snugly along all her chiseled edges.</p>
<p>Shiro dips her head under and slicks her hair back when she surfaces, blinking the water from her eyelashes. This was definitely a good idea. But one thing is definitely missing.</p>
<p>“You coming?” Shiro’s voice is quiet but it carries across the space. She turns in the water and Keith is still standing a few feet from the edge, arms crossed over her chest. The rest of her clothes are dumped on top of the others and her posture is a little uncertain. Shiro keeps her eyes above her collarbones.</p>
<p>There’s a little twist to her lips that Shiro can see even from this far away, one that says maybe she’s not as uncertain as she seems but she’s going to tease Shiro until she pushes back. Shiro rests her forearms on the rim of the pool, water lapping at her chest. “Are you gonna get in or am I gonna have to make you?”</p>
<p>Keith’s eyes light up even as her nose wrinkles, and she turns her head to the side. “As if you could.”</p>
<p>Shiro pushes out of the pool in one smooth movement, the sound of water cascading off her body. She gets one foot under her and the bulge of the muscles in her thighs as she stands catches Keith’s attention - she stares wide-eyed. Shiro takes two broad steps before Keith jolts back to herself and takes off, a laugh spilling out from her lips.</p>
<p>Shiro’s strides are longer than Keith’s, even wet, even with the length of Keith’s legs, and she catches her with a hand around her upper arm before she gets halfway to the door. Shiro uses Keith’s momentum to spin her around, ducking just enough to swing her over her shoulder in a fireman's carry, Keith’s surprised shout echoing on the pool room’s walls.</p>
<p>Keith’s bare hip is next to her cheek, but Shiro just adjusts her hold on her thighs and marches back towards the water. It gives Shiro a really good look at exactly how long and toned her legs are. Keith’s hamstrings tense under her hand and her quads jump where they’re pressed against Shiro’s chest like she’s trying to keep herself from kicking out. The only reason Shiro doesn’t stop moving and put her down is because Keith’s laughing even as she smacks at Shiro’s back.</p>
<p>“Shiro- <em>Shiro!&lt;/i&lt; Wait, wait I can do it- you don’t- don’t! I can-!” Two broad hands on Keith’s ribcage push her up and off and the rest of what she tries to say is cut off as she disappears under the water with a shriek. Warm droplets pepper Shiro’s face from the splash she makes, and Shiro slips in again quickly, just to make sure she’s actually okay. </em></p>
<p>When Keith surfaces Shiro gets a massive wave right in the face for her troubles.</p>
<p>“I was gonna get in!” Keith cries, but she’s still laughing. Shiro takes that as a sign she’s just fine.</p>
<p>“Hmm, maybe once I’d already become a prune. I’m just speeding up the time table,” she teases back. Shiro treads water lightly. She can touch the bottom here, and stand up probably with most of her shoulders out of the water, but she’s also become suddenly very aware of exactly how naked she is, and exactly how naked Keith is, and how she’d only just a few minutes ago had Keith’s very naked body slung over her equally naked shoulder. <em>How could she have forgotten that.</em></p>
<p>The lights are dim and she can’t really see anything clearly below the surface of the water, but the shape of Keith’s body is just barely visible, lean and dark in the shadow. Shiro breaths out a calming breath, focuses on her friend’s face, on the weight of the water around her.</p>
<p>“This doesn’t feel like any water I’ve felt before,” Keith murmurs, her voice quiet to match the calm of the moment. “Another weird Altean thing again?”</p>
<p>“Maybe it’s not actually water?” Shiro latches on to this train of thought to keep herself from spiralling down others. “Coran did say Altea had boiling hot rocks instead of rain. Like weird rain-meteors.” She thinks about that for a moment. “Actually that sounds kind of cool.”</p>
<p>Keith snorts. “Shiro, you nerd.”</p>
<p>“Hey! We both know meteors are cool.”</p>
<p>“Not when they’re “boiling hot rocks” they’re not.”</p>
<p>It takes Shiro a second to realise the pun and then she shoves at Keith’s shoulder with a squawk.</p>
<p>Keith takes the hit with a laugh, but it pushes her off her feet and it takes her a moment to get her balance again, arms spread out at her sides.</p>
<p>“I’m okay,” she gets out before Shiro can ask. Keith steadies herself and floats upright, toes just touching the bottom. “It’s actually a little easier to float in this water. Maybe more dense?”</p>
<p>“Maybe. Salt water can act like this, at least every time I’ve swam in the ocean back home it was kind of the same. More salt or more minerals might explain why it feels so heavy.” Shiro swishes a hand through the water, watching the ripples on the surface. “Altean not-water that acts like water.” She thinks for a moment, and then lifts her hand out of the water and licks a wide stripe across her palm.</p>
<p><em>Yep,</em> she thinks as her whole face puckers. <em>Definitely salty.</em></p>
<p>“Shiro!” Keith looks concerned and outraged at the same time, a common expression for her when Shiro does something she thinks is stupid. “You can’t drink it when we don’t know what’s in it.”</p>
<p>She just laughs. “It’s science, Keith! I’m collecting evidence.”</p>
<p>Keith shakes her head. “I’ll get a headache if I think about it too much. It just is what it is, Shiro.”</p>
<p>That, Shiro thinks privately, is a very Keith statement, for good or bad.</p>
<p>“Do you want to check out the deep end then?” Shiro holds out her hands for Keith to grasp. “I’ve got you.”</p>
<p>Keith takes her hands. “How deep is it?” she asks, even as she kicks her legs and follows Shiro as she swims backwards through the water.</p>
<p>Shiro thinks for a moment. “So my Altean isn’t great,” she starts, gesturing vaguely with one of their joined hands at the markings on the pool’s side. “But the shallow end was like, five feet deep? I think this translates to about ten feet. I can dive down and check though, if you like.” It’d mean letting go of Keith’s hands, but Shiro could swim with her over to the edge if she wanted.</p>
<p>“No,” she says softly instead. “I trust you.”</p>
<p>The deep end seems to be the whole cross-bar of the ‘T’, not sloping up on either end. There are a few sets of built-in steps and railings on the ends, but Shiro stops them right in the centre. They tread water quietly there for a moment.</p>
<p>“So how does this feel?” she asks. Keith looks up from the surface of the water to smile at her.</p>
<p>“It’s good. This is pretty fun. Thanks, Shiro.”</p>
<p>“Do you want to practice swimming a little more? Gotta make sure you get your kicks.”</p>
<p>Keith’s expression progresses through soft and smiling to incredulous and wide-eyed. She purses her lips to try to contain the laughter Shiro can see in her eyes.</p>
<p>“Shiro, that’s terrible!” Keith tries to shove back but Shiro has a tight grip on her hands and they end up just swishing through the water like a dance.</p>
<p>“Have to make sure you know who’s the pun queen around here,” she sniffs, putting on an air of faux-superiority. It doesn’t last long before she starts to laugh, and Keith can’t help but join in.</p>
<p>“Okay, that’s fine. You can have that title.” Keith is giggling as she says it. Her low voice is gentle and honest when she laughs with Shiro. It’s one of Shiro’s favourite sounds.</p>
<p>Keith laughs so rarely these days, even more rarely than when they first met and getting a smile out of her was like pulling teeth. Shiro had managed, though, often with dumb jokes or puns, or imitating the poses of some of the guys who took themselves a little too seriously at the Garrison’s gym. She’d cover her mouth when others were around, like she didn’t want them to know she laughed at all, but out in the desert when there was no one for miles, Shiro could get her to let loose and laugh loudly.</p>
<p>She’s managed it a handful of times since they became Paladins, quiet ones around the others when they’re rejoicing after a battle or when they’d figured out how to hook up the game system. Louder ones are reserved just for Shiro, and Shiro hoards each one.</p>
<p>Right now Keith’s laugher is reverberating on the pool room’s walls, echoing but still feeling insular, like no one can hear them in here. It’s so peaceful.</p>
<p>They’re quiet as the laugher dies down, Keith’s grip on her hands tight as they float together. The Altean water gives them a strange buoyancy where, had they been on Earth, Shiro thinks the water would be up to her chin and force her to float more on her back. This not-water suspends them both higher, just enough for the tops of Shiro’s shoulders to peek out. It’s a relief that she doesn’t have to tread water as hard, and a bonus that she gets to enjoy Keith more as well.</p>
<p>The steady lap of water around them eventually stills, and Shiro can hear the hum of the castleship’s engines underneath. It’s become another comforting sound, and a reminder that they’re moving, that they’re safe, that things are still working.</p>
<p>Shiro hadn’t realised she’d let go, but the sudden grip of a hand on her bicep startles her back into the moment. She drops her hand from where it was absently pushing strands of her bangs back from her forehead, but instead of reaching for it, Keith presses in closer and Shiro’s hand falls to the planes of her back.</p>
<p>There are so many bruises but Shiro keeps her touch gentle, firm enough not to tickle but not so hard as to press on one by accident. Keith sighs and then, suddenly, leans further forward to tuck her head onto Shiro’s shoulder. She buries her nose in Shiro’s neck, keeping it up and away from the water, and allowing her dark, inkspill hair to fan out in a ripple behind her.</p>
<p>She’s beautiful, naked in Shiro’s arms, but also so clearly still carrying the weight of her Trials. It's all Shiro can do to rest her metal hand on Keith’s head, holding her close and swaying with the movement of the water. Her breath fans some of the still-dry hairs on the top of Keith’s head. Shiro feels the sweep of her eyelashes against her skin as Keith closes her eyes.</p>
<p>That strange buoyancy of the water keeps them pressed together at an odd angle, Keith having to bend a little to lean on her, and as a result she starts to float upwards and away. She makes a soft noise, realising this, and Shiro reaches out to hook one foot behind her calf, tucking their knees together and keeping them from floating apart. Keith snorts softly against her neck.</p>
<p>“My hero,” she murmurs. She sounds sleepy, her words softened by the sway of the water and the soft sweep of Shiro’s hand on her back. Shiro lets her thumb trace the line of her spine, resting her metal right hand to rest on her dark head. The strands of her hair are too wet to thread through painlessly, so she just pets in steady strokes down the curve of her head.</p>
<p>Their legs are hooked together at the knee and with Keith’s arms anchored around her back and neck, Shiro sinks a little further into their embrace. This is something she realises she’s wanted for a long time, the feeling of Keith in her arms. The weight of her is grounding, even as the slip-slide of their skin is exciting. What would it be like to hold her outside of this moment? Tucked up together in one of their beds, blankets pooling around their waists because Keith runs so warm. Her little satisfied smile as she draws patterns on Shiro’s skin with one finger. Shiro almost shivers thinking about how that would feel.</p>
<p>Shiro wants to hold her while she sleeps again, this time peacefully and not in pain. She’s been keeping the memory of the night before the trials close, too afraid to think about it too often, but now she lets the scene change, where they’re happy, healthy, no bruises or bandages to be seen. Keith looks up at her like a cat who got the cream, brushing her bangs aside and kissing her cheek. The slope of her jaw fits just right into the seams of Shiro’s palm when she leans in.</p>
<p>She’d kiss like she flies, Shiro thinks besottedly. A little fast, a little reckless, a little triumphant. Shiro could show her how to make it slow and easy, and how good that feels too. Keith learns so quickly, she’ll be better at kissing than Shiro is within one lesson. There’s a dumb smile on her face she knows she gets whenever she thinks too much about all the ways Keith is wonderful. She tries not to let it out in public too much - she has an image to uphold - but in private, and apparently now, she can’t help it. She can’t quite believe she gets to hold her right now.</p>
<p>Shiro wants to hold Keith forever, wants to tell her all the ways she’s special, wants to brush her nose against Keith’s in a soft butterfly kiss, and then press a firmer kiss to her mouth. In her arms, Keith shifts against her and Shiro is reminded again that they are definitely still naked, definitely still pressed against each other above the waist.</p>
<p>Keith doesn’t seem to mind. If she does, she doesn’t say anything.</p>
<p>Instead she hums, her voice resonating low in her throat. It’s such a comforting sensation that Shiro drops her head to rest against the top of Keith’s. Her eyes close and she leans into the trust that is keeping the two of them afloat.</p>
<p>“Thank you,” Shiro murmurs into the stillness of the room. The water laps gently and the engines are humming and Keith is relaxed and sleepy in her arms. Shiro has never been happier.</p>
<p>“Hm? For what?”</p>
<p>“For doing this with me. For trusting me. For so many things, Keith, I don’t know how to tell you them all.” Their voices barely travel over the quiet sound of the water. “You mean so much to me.”</p>
<p>“Shiro,” Keith says, like her name in Keith’s voice is the answer to all her questions. She never gets tired of hearing her say it. “I’d do anything for you.”</p>
<p>“I know,” she says, and kisses the crown of Keith’s head. She lets her lips linger, trying to say in this gesture what she can’t yet say out loud. “I’ve never been more grateful for your devotion.”</p>
<p>“Shiro..” Keith sounds embarrassed, but pleased. She doesn’t say anything further but presses a kiss of her own into the side of Shiro’s neck, chaste and filled with intent. It’s a response to what Shiro was trying to tell her without words. She hears, she responds, she’s also not ready. This is enough.</p>
<p>They have a tough battle ahead. They’ll take this for now, just being together in this way, and see what they are and how they fit together on the other side of it. Shiro wants it so much.</p>
<p>They float quietly for a long time.</p>
<p>Shiro knows it’s been a long time when she can feel Keith’s pruned fingers on her back tracing small, absent circles. Her own palms sweep broad strokes over Keith’s skin. She’s still careful of the damage, but the water and the relaxation seems to have done wonders for any remaining pain.</p>
<p>Eventually they drag themselves over to the edge when they start blinking too slow and realise they should get out before they fall asleep where they are. Shiro is loath to separate, the skin of her side warmed to Keith’s body temperature and content where she is, but she takes Keith’s hands and guides her back through the water to where they’d left their clothes vargas before.</p>
<p>Their nakedness seems unimportant now, an afterthought after spending so long in each other's arms. Still, they dress in their underclothes so they’re not tramping down the castle halls completely nude, no matter how few people are around. Shiro fumbles for a moment with the heavy duty clasp of her sports bra before she feels nimble fingers help position the hooks into the proper eyes. They don’t linger this time, just turn one strap so it lays flat and then retreat.</p>
<p>Keith is gathering her own clothes when Shiro turns, already dressed and her black bralette is a little faded along the seams but holds strong. A little like Keith herself, Shiro thinks as she drapes the rest of her clothes over her arm, and then presses a hand to the warm skin of Keith’s back. It doesn’t take much to guide her out of the pool room and towards the elevators. The lights above the pool shut off as the door closes behind them.</p>
<p>This time, the elevator hums with the sound of Keith’s low voice, endlessly soothing. She must also hear it, since her ears are ruddy and she ducks her head a little.</p>
<p>They don’t meet anyone else on their route back to their rooms, but they pause in front of their doors, side by side. Their equally unfurnished rooms await them.</p>
<p>Keith holds her clothes to her chest, stepping out of Shiro’s space before reaching to grasp her hand. She holds it tightly, lacing their fingers together and smiling when Shiro squeezes back. It reaches her eyes.</p>
<p>“Thank you,” she whispers. “For so many things too.”</p>
<p>“Of course, Keith.” Shiro wonders briefly if she should keep this hold on Keith’s hand to pull her back to her room. Just to sleep, they’re both tired. But the moment passes, and Shiro knows that what she wants, what she thinks Keith wants, will wait until after this final battle. Keith deserves to know how much she means to Shiro, and Shiro can’t wait to take her time to tell her.</p>
<p>Keith pulls away to open the door to her room. She pauses again in the doorway, looking at Shiro and the love is evident on her face. She hasn’t stopped smiling. “Good night, Shiro.”</p>
<p>Shiro smiles back, just as soft. “Good night, Keith. Sweet dreams.”</p>
<p>She revels in Keith’s soft, pleased smile as she closes the door.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>You can find me on twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/thimblee">thimblee</a>!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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